The Nuclear Reactor

1999.240 _____ A breeder reactor built in a shed, and the boy scout badge to prove credit was given where boy scout credit was due. [500 points]

Of all the far-fetched, almost impossible items that have shown up on Scav lists over the years, one item stands out as being particularly legendary: the nuclear reactor built in a dorm room. In 1999, Justin Kasper and Fred Niell constructed the breeder reactor using scrap aluminum and World War II-era surplus vacuum tubes. Justin lost a coin toss, so it was assembled in his room. The most difficult part of the project was obtaining equipment sensitive enough to detect the profoundly miniscule amounts of thorium, uranium, and plutonium the reactor would produce. No one faced any real harm from radiation. After demonstrating that their reactor worked to an independent expert’s satisfaction the night before, for Judgment they built a shed out of drywall, dressed up in clean room ‘bunny’ suits, and displayed the apparatus inside. [‘99 campus myth points]